Mohsen Rafighdoost

Mohsen Rafighdoost (also Rafiqdoost) (Persian: محسن رفیقدوست‎‎) is an Iranian retired Revolutionary Guards military officer and politician who is a member of Islamic Coalition Party.

Rafighdoost's background is that of a bazaari, the traditional class of people who work in the bazaar. His father was a vegetable and fruit merchant at the Tehran bazaar.

Mohsen Rafighdoost was the chief of Ruhollah Khomeini's security detail in 1979 during the Iranian Revolution, and helped found the Revolutionary Guards who helped eliminate opposition to theocratic rule in the Islamic Republic.

He is noted for having driven Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Revolution, from the Tehran international airport into Tehran, during Khomeini's triumphant return to Iran from exile, while millions of Iranians crowded the road to welcome Khomeini back. He has told journalists this was the most important day of his life and "crowds were all over the car, touching and hanging on to it."

He served from 1982 to 1989 as Minister of the Revolutionary Guards where he quashed internal dissent and obtained weapons from abroad for the Iran–Iraq War.

Rafighdoost said in a 2014 interview that he twice suggested to Khomeini that Iran develop weapons of mass destruction to counter their use by Saddam Hussein. Rafighdoost claimed that both times Khomeini rejected the idea, reasoning that it would be against Islam.

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Wikipedia